Possibility
by Lucy Maria Elmer
Summary: A hospital ball leads to truths being told


**Possibility.**

I own nothing. Never mind hehe!

Penny Valentine entered the ornate building, her arm linked in her brothers and her cream silk gown lightly brushing the floor with each footfall. Her red hair fell in soft curls onto her bare shoulders and the hair band that rested on her forehead and hair, covered in delicate cream flowers, framed the striking features of the porcelain skinned beauty that took the breath away of so many as she walked to the ballroom at Oliver's side.

She didn't know why she had come really. The last thing she had felt like was dressing up and attending a hospital ball. Not when Linden had just passed away and certainly not when she was exhausted and barely struggling through each day but Oliver had turned on his charm telling her that he wanted the true belle of the ball on his arm and wouldn't take no for an answer and so there she was, tired and pale under her flawless make up with a fake smile on her baby pink lips wishing the night away.

Resolving to sit down with a glass of wine rather than mingle with the colleagues whom she spent so many of her now difficult days working alongside, Penny offered to go to the bar and get herself and her brother a drink. She couldn't help but smile as she threw a glance over her shoulder, watching Ollie immediately sidle over to an attractive young Paediatric Doctor and work the Valentine magic she couldn't help but think that she lacked. So caught up in her brother's antics was she that she didn't even notice the person standing with their back to her until she walked into them; their glass falling to the floor and shattering into tiny little pieces that glittered like diamonds. A soft curse word in a language that she couldn't understand permeated the air.

"I'm so sorry." Penny apologised, immediately bending down to try and pick up some of the pieces. "Let me clear some of this glass."

"It okay. An accident I'm sure." A familiar voice replied with a sigh.

Penny could hear a hint of a smile. She frowned.

The stricken figure turned around and joined Penny in a kneeling position on the floor. The redhead gasped as she was faced with the woman who had been missing from her life since the day of Lindens passing. Kneeling in front of her was Frieda Petrenko in a deep blue floor length strappy gown, looking more feminine than Penny had ever seen her. Her deep red lips, sparkling skin and dark hair falling in waves half way down her back; sections of it pinned back with deep blue flowers and loose strands framing her face, stunned the red head doctor into silence.

"Valentine." Frieda said warmly, giving the young woman a sincere smile.

"Petrenko." Penny replied in kind, smiling again in response. "You look...almost feminine." She teased and Frieda shrugged.

The dark haired beauty lifted up her stunning dress to show a pair of black biker boots.

"I did say almost." Penny responded, nodding thanks to a waiter who had appeared with a brush and dustpan to clean away the broken glass. "Let me get you another drink, seeing as I knocked your last one onto the floor. What's your poison?"

"A white wine. Thank you." Frieda replied and when she smiled Penny noticed the cute dimples that settled into her cheeks.

Penny nodded, once again taking in the unexpected beauty of the woman now standing at her side.

"What?" Frieda asked softly, noting the red heads lingering gaze.

Penny blushed, her cheeks going a subtle shade of pink that accentuated the shade of her lips and made her seem to Frieda like even more of an English rose than she naturally was.

Penny shook her head and looked at the floor, not noticing the stunning green eyes taking in her own ethereal and almost angelic beauty.

"Two white wines please." She said quietly to the barman as they reached the bar; Oliver now forgotten.

The two women picked up their glasses and made their way to a secluded table in the corner of the bustling room. They carefully sat down, for a few moments in silence; neither knowing what to say to the other after the absence that Frieda had enforced after Oliver had let her down over their 'date.'

"You look beautiful." Frieda offered shyly, running her fingers over the rim of the glass, a blush evident on her cheeks.

"So do you. You look...amazing." Penny replied, looking the young nurse in her green eyes and offering a warm smile. "The AAU ladies certainly scrub up well."

Frieda smiled, but then her expression suddenly grew serious.

"How are you...? I've heard that you...You cry. You struggle on AAU."

Penny fiddled with her necklace, now unable to meet Frieda's concerned gaze. The dark haired woman rested her hand on top of Penny's free one.

"It okay. It understandable. There is no-one...no-one but you trying to do Mr Cullen job. It too much for you to do alone."

"We have Mr Spence." Penny replied, watching the American Doctor showing off his moves on the dance floor.

"Do you really? Because I hear Mr Spence like to hide." Frieda answered, taking a sip of her wine as she glared at the American.

"Yes well...yeah. He does." Penny told Frieda with a small sigh and shrug of her bare shoulders.

"Then he an idiot. And...so am I. For leaving you."

"You're not an idiot. All I did was push you and I ruined your night out with Ollie. You were right to want to leave an inept human being like me."

"That so untrue. You are not inept." Frieda replied loudly and with a hard edge to her voice and the hint of tears that her companion could think such a thing about herself. "I was angry and stupid. I was happy to be asked out yes but...Ollie...he wrong for me. You though...you need help and I not been there because I foolish. I sorry."

"I have to do it alone sometime, although I certainly don't seem to be doing a very good job. I don't feel like I will ever be the person I need to, to be the kind of Doctor that I can tell you were."

"You are amazing person Penny Valentine and you care. Not enough Doctor care about patients. You lose someone you care for. It knock your confidence that all." Frieda replied softly, entwining Penny's fingers in her own and not caring who saw.

"I lost two people I care for that day Frieda. Not one. Two." Penny replied tearfully, tear tracks that Frieda hadn't even noticed now glistening under the soft glow of the chandeliers. "Excuse me." She added, letting go of the raven haired beauty's fingers and quickly making her way out of the ballroom and the building, finally finding solace on a wooden pagoda adorned with roses.

She didn't know how long she stood there alone, mulling over how she could have been so stupid as to admit to Frieda that her absence had affected her almost as much as losing the friend that she had in Linden Cullen, but as the tones of Lykke Li floated over to her in the autumn breeze she heard gentle footfalls behind her. She knew that she wasn't alone anymore.

Soft fingertips brushed her skin as she felt cool fabric placed over her shoulders. Penny turned to see Frieda standing behind her, tears glistening on her own cheeks as she wrapped Penny in her shawl.

"I've missed you." Penny told the dark haired woman tearfully. "You have no idea how much. It's hard without you...and lonely." She added, wiping the tears away from her cheeks with her fingertips.

"I do know. I miss you too. I miss those eyes...and that smile. You believe in me when I do not believe."

"But you left...and now things are so hard..."

"They do not have to be. I come back. I take care of you..." Frieda told her, rubbing Penny's arms to try and warm her up.

"You shouldn't have to." Penny replied, sobs overcoming her fragile body. "I should be able to do it myself."

Frieda wrapped her arms around the redhead, cradling her in them and moving them both gently with the music.

"Hush now. It okay. It all be okay. I am here. I not leave again. I promise you Valentine. I want to take care of you." She reassured, running her fingers through Penny's curls. "I want to for always."

"And I want you to. I do. I just...wait...what are they doing in there?" Penny asked; her tears ceasing as she saw many of her colleagues paired up and dancing in the ballroom.

"Slow dance. Jac Naylor with Mr Byrne, Mr Griffin with Mr Hope although I do believe that for a bet. Romantic dance. With that one exception."

Penny nodded.

"May I have this dance?" The red head asked, offering her hands to Frieda. "As it's romantic?"

Frieda beamed and curtseyed.

"You may." She replied, letting Penny put her arms around her neck; their noses almost touching as they moved to the music.

The pagoda lit up, fairy lights twinkling around its wooden structure and basking the pair in a golden glow.

"You really do look beautiful." Penny told Frieda quietly, pulling away slightly and noting how her skin sparkled like diamonds under the twinkling beams of light.

"And you. Like an angel."

"I could love you Frieda. It terrifies me." Penny admitted. "Losing you...terrified me."

Frieda leaned in and touched her lips to Penny's.

"Don't be scared. I love you too. We do this together. We do life...together. Okay?" Frieda then asked, cupping Penny's flushed cheek in her palm; their bodies still moving to the music.

"Okay." Penny replied, rubbing her nose against Frieda's in an Eskimo kiss, before wrapping the shrug around the pair of them as they swayed. "We do life together." She repeated, taking in the beauty of the woman in her arms and thanking whoever was up there that at a time she had felt so lost and alone; the one person she needed had walked back into her life; never to leave her again.

The end.


End file.
